The world’s whitest beach: Hyams In Jervis Bay

Jervis Bay holds a Guinness Book world record – for having the whitest beach in the world. I must admit, I was a tad sceptical. How could a small coastal beach have whiter sands than deserted tropical islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean? I had to see this for myself.

So we decided to take a walk to Hyams Beach, of the snow white sand. It was a bit of a trek – but a very attractive one at that – through the beaches, over rocks, in the forests and finally reached the tarmac of the exclusive Hyams Beach resort town. It took us a good couple of hours to get to our destination and by the time we actually arrived, the weather was somewhat miserable and the colour of the beach sand had lost its glimmer.

I expected some sort of plague at least advertising this accolade but there was nothing like that. We did find a gorgeous deserted beach with sand as soft as satin and yes, it was very white. I can’t say whether it’s the whitest in the world, but I reckon it’s the softest and whitest I’ve ever seen.

We were starving by now, so we ambled to Hyams Beach Store – the one and only cafe (well at least what we could gather). The food looked delicious but we settled on yummy milkshakes.

We resisted hitchhiking back to Vincentia and rather walked back – finally reaching our self-catering oasis. We delved into the kitchen for cheese and tomato ‘sangers’ (sandwiches).

In the afternoon, we headed into Huskisson where we caught a movie at the Husky Cinema and then returned to Vicentia for a night of dvd’s and home-made pasta.

Arrival in Jervis Bay – Vincentia

So after about a two and a half hour drive we arrived in Jervis Bay. The town where we were staying is called Vincentia, which was sandwiched between the exclusive Hyams Beach and the more local hangout of Huskisson.

As we turned into the road where our self-catering house lay, we were welcomed with a renegade ball flying out from a energetic game of street cricket. Our next door neighbours were celebrating Australia day traditionally with booze, alcohol and more booze. They were nicely merry by the time we pulled in and as they yelled for us to join their party, all hopes of a nice quiet weekend vanished in a second.

The house, Corrinyah on Jervis, is set literally steps away from the main Collingwood beach. It’s a wonderful upmarket beachhouse fully equipped with two bright bedrooms, nice kitchen, lounge with TV, dvd player and dvd’s and a remote controlled garage. The owners had even left us a welcoming letter, a complimentary bottle of sparkling wine and choccies. They also had a tourist pack filled with sugested activities and restaurants in the area. Well recommended.

We popped over to the local supermarket to get some supplies, then I explored the lovely beach – very untouched, long and white.

Next up – dinner in an Aussie safari style tree-house…..

The beach is footsteps from the house